Playwright's Note
The first seeds of this project were planted when I studied abroad for a semester in Moscow. After watching the film adaptation of Heart of a Dog and seeing Aelita in a film class, my mind started connecting the dots between those works and The Bedbug, which I had read a year prior in Professor Dmitry Troyanovsky’s “Russian Theater” course. I spent that semester abroad jumping from theater to theater, something that seems almost unimaginable now, seeing any show I could get into. These experiences seeing shows and the amazing training I was receiving taught me so much about theater, art, and storytelling.
On a very practical level, I learned how to engage an audience- how to tell a story in a way that an audience will believe me and go along the ride with me. I saw theater productions of plays and literary classics that ripped apart the original text and incorporated contemporary music, movement, and ideas, used bold designs and acting methods, all of which challenged any notion I had of what theater can be. I have held onto these experiences and much of what this play has become is directly inspired by them.
Yet, the one thing that will stay with me forever is something one of my acting teachers said. After a long digression about The Cherry Orchard, he stated, without a shred of irony or second thought, “Theater will one day save the world.” Now, this probably sounds ridiculous to many of you- live theater, at least in the form we recognize it in, has not happened in over a year. Theater artists have constantly dealt with abusive practices and we are reckoning with racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism that have trapped the theater for centuries. However, we keep coming back to the theater. Telling stories is an innate human need. Theater is a fleeting entity- it is ephemeral. Yet it is because of that ephemerality, not despite it, that theater gains its power. Words, actions, and performances allow us to connect and empathize in a way that can and in my belief, will, one day, heal us, little by little.
I’m not sure whether this prerecorded conglomeration of zoom videos, social media posts, and designs actually counts as theater. I wanted to do everything to make this process manageable and accessible for everyone involved. Given our reality, it was not feasible to do something live or in person. I want to thank all of those involved- their work, dedication, artistry, and humanity have made me a better theater artist. Whether or not this production is actually theater, it is my ode to theater and to the power of storytelling.
Thank you for coming on this journey with us. Hope you enjoy your trip to Moscow, then to Mars, and back.
Nate Rtishchev
Here's a Spotify playlist of music that inspired me while writing this play!